Voith signs financing deal with Chinese partners

SHANGHAI, China 2/20/12 (PennWell) -- A syndicated loan facility worth 2.25 billion renminbi (US$354 million) should help the Voith Group further its hydroelectric presence in China, the company says.

The deal has a maturity of five years and was coordinated by Citibank (China) and Voith Finance GmbH. Commerzbank and HSBC will act as further mandated lead arrangers, and ANZ, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Standard Chartered Banks as original lenders.

Voith says the transaction represents the company's first financing deal in the local Chinese market.

"Against the background of a difficult environment, we were able to secure a flexible, long-term liquidity cushion at an early stage, and, at the same time, purposefully widen the circle of banks with which we cooperate," said Voith chief financial officer Hermann Jung.

Voith says it expects to invest more than $520 million into China in the next few years, with a large portion coming from its newly-established line of credit. The company also says it anticipates its Chinese workforce to increase from just under 3,000 to about 5,000 by 2016.